Pipe hanger detachable by an axial force



July 9, 1963 R. A. MOCLINTOCK ETAL 3,097,000

PIPE HANGER DETACHABLE BY AN AXIAL FORCE Filed Oct. 28. 1957 R053 A. M:CLINTOCK RA YMOND E THOMPSON KENNETH E. WAGGENER INVENTOR. WHANN at MeMA mam. filler-nay: fin- A Z/ian/s United States Patent Calif.

Filed Oct. 28, 1957, Ser. No. 692,941 7 Claims. (Cl. 285-142) Thisinvention relates generally to well completion equipment and relatesmore particularly to landing apparatus, such as is used in the drillingand completion of oil wells and the like.

While the invention has particular utility in offshore or subseadrilling operations, and is shown and described in such connection, itis to be understood that its utility is not confined thereto.

In oil well completion operations several strings of successivelysmaller diameter casing or pipe may be used. These strings are landed orsupported at their upper ends and in subsea operations certain problemsare involved. For example, under some circumstances it is desirable todisconnect the strings above the surface of the formation and leave onlya very short part of the lower ends of the string projecting above theformation surface. It is highly desirable to have the projecting portionas short as possible. Heretofore, where there are several strings used,the landing heads therefor are arranged one on top of the other in thewell-known manner and project some distance above the formation surface.

It is an object of the present invention to provide apparatus forlanding strings in such subsea operations but with which the part of thelower portion of the strings projecting above the formation afterdisconnection of the upper string portion may be held to a minimum.

Another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thischaracter wherein the landing head and strings supported thereby arelocked in position but may be removed should such removal be desired.

Still another object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thischaracter that is relatively simple in construction.

A further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thischaracter that is reliable and effective in use.

A still further object of the invention is to provide apparatus of thischaracter that is relatively inexpensive to manufacture and install.

The characteristics and advantages of the invention are furthersufficiently referred to in connection with the following detaileddescription of the accompanying drawings which represent certainembodiments. After considering these examples, skilled persons willunderstand that variations may be made without departing from theprinciples disclosed, and we contemplate the employment of anystructures, or arrangements or modes of operation that are properlywithin the scope of the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation, with portions broken away, of a safety jointmandrel attached to the upper end of a casing with a string landedtherein; and

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal section of a portion of a safety joint showingan alternative arrangement of the invention.

Referring more particularly to FIG. 1 there is shown a mandrel,indicated generally at '10, which is similar to that disclosed in theWaggener application for Release Casing Safety Joint for Well ToolStrings, Serial No. 605,241, filed August 21, 1956, now abandoned, butwhich embodies certain new and useful elements and features.

Mandrel 10 includes a tubular body -11 having an ex- 3,097,000 PatentedJuly 9, 1963 ternally threaded tapering pin 12 which is threadablyreceived in an internally threaded socket 14 at the upper end of theupper pipe section or casing 15 of a well, a short portion of the upperend of said casing projecting above the surface 15a of the formation15b. From the opposite or upper end of the body 11 there extends a shorttubular shank .16 of reduced external diameter with respect to theexternal diameter of said body 11, and there is an annular externalflange 17 on the body which provides a shoulder 18 at its upper side ofsaid flange which serves as a stop for the barrel unit of the safetyjoint. At the junction of the body 11 and shank 16 there is an annularexternal shoulder 19 from which a suitable number of downwardly inclinedspiral of helical slots 20 extend, there being three such slots in thepresent mandrel. The closed end walls 21 of the slots 20 extendlongitudinally with respect to the mandrel and at the open end of eachslot 20 there is a longitudinally extending key sleeve locking slot 22formed in the inner wall 23 of said slot 20.

The passageway through the mandrel comprises a lower bore 25 and anupper bore 26 of greater diameter. At a point intermediate the ends ofthe mandrel and connecting the inner adjacent end portions of the bores25 and 26 there is an upwardly flaring landing surface or seat 27.Spaced upwardly of the seat 27 there is an internal annular groove 28formed in the body of the mandrel and the upper wall 29 of said grooveis inclined upwardly and inwardly.

In underwater drilling operations the method and apparatus disclosed inthe Gibson et al. application for Method and Apparatus for OffshoreDrilling, Serial No. 627,250, filed December 10, 1956, may be used. Inthe initial stages, a safety release joint is used which includes amandrel such as the mandrel 10 of the present application. When thecasing is in to the required depth, the barrel unit of the safetyrelease joint is removed and further drilling operations may be carriedout through the casing, a smaller hole then being drilled and providedwith the usual pipe string of which the pipe 35 comprises the topsection. For a production hookup the pipe or tubing section 35 has atubing head or hangar, indicated generally at 36, screwed onto the upperexternally threaded end portion.

The tubing head 36 is provided with a. frusto-conical seating surface 37adjacent the lower end thereof. The part of the tubing head or hangarabove the seating surface 37 comprises a body portion 38 slidablyreceivable in the bore portion 26 of the mandrel. The body portion 38has an external annular groove 39 adjacent the lower end thereof forreception of a seal 40. Spaced upwardly from said groove 39 is a groove4-1 adjacent the upper end of the body portion in which is disposed aseal 42. Between the grooves 39 and 41 is an external annular groove 44in which is received a split ring 45. Ring 45 has an upper peripheraledge portion 46 that is inclined inwardly and upwardly to match theinclination of the Wall 29 of the groove 28 of the mandrel, said ring 45being received in the groove 28 of the mandrel when the head is seatedon the seat 27, said ring 45 comprising a releasable or disengageablesecuring means: for maintaining the tubing head or hangar 36 in positionin the mandrel.

Should it be desired to remove the tubing, a suitable tool is used toengage the internal threads 48 at the upper end of the bore of thehangar and provide sufiicient pull upwardly to cause the ring 45 tocontract and leave the groove 28, the peripheral portion 46 of said ring45 serving as a cam surface in connection with the wall 29 of saidgroove 28 to effect such contraction of said ring.

There may be situations wherein it is desirable to suspend the tubingfrom the barrel units of the releasable safety joint and this may beeffected by means of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2.

The barrel unit is indicated generally at 50 and includes a tubularbarrel 51 having internal threads at the upper end thereof forthreadable reception of an externally threaded reduced diameter portion53 of a top sub 54. The top sub 54 is provided with the usual tapered,internally threaded socket 55 for connection to the pin of an adjacentportion of a well string, not shown. An internally threaded bore 56extends downwardly from the socket 55 and there is an annular shoulder57 at the junction of the bore 56 and socket 55. Reduced diameterportion 53 has an internally threaded counterbore 53 coaxial with thebore 56 and of larger diameter, there being a shoulder 59 at thejunction of said counterbore 58 and bore 56. A fixed tubular sleeve 64of smaller external diameter than the internal diameter of the barrel51, is provided with external threads at the upper end and is threadablyreceived in the counterbore 58. The upper end of fixed sleeve 60 abutsthe shoulder 59 and said sleeve depends in said barrel and serves as aguide means for a key sleeve, 61 which is slidably disposed on saidfixed sleeve and is adapted to be received in the annular space 62between said fixed sleeve 60 and the barrel 51. A spring 63 reactsbetween the upper end of sleeve 61 and the lower annular end 64 of thereduced diameter portion 53 for yieldingly urging the sleeve 61downwardly. The barrel 51 has internal lugs, not shown, and the keysleeve 61 has a plurality of depending keys, also not shown. The barrellugs and keys are adapted to be received in the helical recesses and keyslots of the mandrel in the manner described in the above referred to\Vaggener application.

The upper end of the upper section 66 of a tubing section is threadablyreceived within the threaded bore 67 of a tubing hanger or head 68, saidhead being externally threaded and screwed into the bore 56. At theupper end of the head there is a flange 69 having a tapered seat "70 atthe lower end thereof which seats on the shoulder 57. Below theexternally threaded portion of the head 68 there is a cylindrical part72 which has an annular external groove 73 therein for reception of asealing ring or element 74.

Thus, with the arrangement shown in FIG. 1, a tubing string may besupported by means of a head removably received and seated in themandrel portion of the safety release joint. Also, a tubing string maybe supported in the barrel unit of such safety release joint by means ofthe head 68, said string depending through the string 35. In botharrangements other types of seats may be used for the supporting headand the latter may be removed should it be desired to raise the stringsupported thereby.

Within the barrel 51 of the barrel unit 50 are internal lugs 20a, whichare received in the slots 20 when the barrel 51 of the barrel unit 50 istelescoped onto the mandrel Key sleeve 61 has keys 22a on the lower endwhich are received in the locking slots 22a to prevent the lugs a frommoving out of the slots 20. When it is desired to release the barrelunit from the mandrel and detach same therefrom, a suitable tool ofknown type is dropped into the drill string and has parts engageablewith internal shoulder 61a so that upward movement of tool will causethe sleeve 61 to be raised against the force of spring 63 to move thekeys 22a out of the locking slots 22. When the key 22a have been liftedout of the slots 22 the lugs 20a will slide out of the slots 2i? whenthere is an upward pull on the drill string and barrel unit 50 attachedto the lower end of said string.

It is thought that the invention and many of its attendant advantageswill be understood from the foregoing description and it is thought thatit will be apparent that various changes may be made in the form,construction and arrangement of the parts of the invention withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope thereof or sacrificing all of itsmaterial advantages, the arrangements hereinbefore described beingmerely for purposes of illustration.

We claim:

1. Well completion equipment, comprising: a safety release joint havinga mandrel including a part with a plurality of annularly spaced helicalrecesses open at the upper end and a key groove for each recess, saidkey grooves extending longitudinally with respect to the mandrel andopening at the open ends of said recesses; an annular external shoulderon said mandrel forming a stop; means for securing the lower end of saidmandrel to a tubular .pipe, said mandrel having a bore therethroughincluding an enlarged bore portion extending from the top and a smallerdiameter portion therebelow, there being a landing surface flaring fromthe smaller diameter bore portion to the larger diameter bore, therealso being an annular internal groove in the large diameter boreportion, spaced upwardly from the landing surface and having the upperwall inclined upwardly and inwardly; a tubing hanger releasablypositioned in said mandrel and having a frusto-conical seating surfaceseating on said landing surface and having an external annular groovespaced upwardly of said seating surface, said hanger being adapted tohave a pipe string secured thereto; a split ring disposed in said groovein the hanger and received in the internal annular groove of themandrel, said ring having an upper outer wall portion conforming to theinclination of the upper wall portion of the internal mandrel groove andcooperating therewith to releasably secure the hanger in said mandrel;and a barrel unit including a tubular barrel receivable on said mandreland having an internal diameter so as to be respectively engageable withsaid stop; a top sub to which said barrel is secured, said top subhaving an internally threaded socket from which there extends adepending internally threaded bore; means, including a key sleeve, forreleasably securing the barrel unit to the mandrel; and a tubing hangerhaving an externally threaded portion receivable in the depending boreportion of said top sub and adapted to have a pipe string securedthereto which is receivable in the first mentioned pipe string.

2. Well completion equipment, comprising: a safety release joint havinga mandrel, including an annular external shoulder thereon forming astop; means for securing one end of said mandrel to a tubular pipe, saidmandrel having a bore therethrough including an enlarged upper portionextending from the top end and a smaller diameter portion therebelow,there being a landing surface flaring from the smaller diameter boreportion to the larger diameter bore portion, there being an annularinternal groove in the large diameter bore portion spaced from thelanding surface and having the upper wall inclined upwardly andinwardly; a tubing hanger releasably positioned in said mandrel andhaving a frusto-conical seating surface seating on said landing surfaceand having an external annular groove spaced upwardly of said seatingsurface; a split ring disposed in said groove in the hanger and receivedin the internal annular groove, said ring having an upper outer wallportion conforming to the inclination of the upper wall portion of theinternal mandrel groove and cooperating therewith to releasably securethe hanger in said mandrel; and a barrel unit including a tubular barrelreceivable on said mandrel and having an internal diameter so as to berestrictively engageable with said stop; a top sub to which said barrelunit is secured, said top sub having an internally threaded socket fromwhich there extends a depending internally threaded bore; means forreleasably securing the barrel unit to the mandrel; and a tubing hangerhaving an externally threaded portion receivable in the depending boreportion of said top sub and adapted to have a pipe string securedthereto which is receivable in the tubing head in the mandrel.

3. Well completion equipment, comprising: a safety release joint havinga mandrel with a plurality of annularly spaced helical recesses open atthe upper end and a key groove for each recess, said key groovesextending longitudinally with respect to the mandrel and opening at theopen ends of said recesses; means for securing one end of said mandrelto a tubular pipe, said mandrel having a bore therethrough including anupwardly flaring landing surface and an annular internal groove spacedupwardly from the landing surface and having the upper wall inclinedupwardly and inwardly; and a tubing hanger releasably positioned in saidmandrel and having a frustoconical seating surface seating on saidlanding surface and having an external annular groove spaced upwardly ofsaid seating surface; a split ring disposed in said groove in the hangerand received in the internal annular groove, said ring having an upperouter wall portion conforming to the inclination of the upper wallportion of the internal mandrel groove and cooperating therewith toreleasably secure the hanger in said mandrel.

4. In well completion equipment: a safety release joint including amandrel with a plurality of annularly spaced helical recesses open atthe upper end and a key groove for each recess, said key groovesextending longitudinally with respect to the mandrel and opening at theopen ends of said recesses; means for securing one end of said mandrelto a tubular pipe, said mandrel having a bore therethrough, including anupwardly flaring landing surface and an annular internal groove spacedupwardly from the landing surface and having the upper wall inclinedupwardly and inwardly.

5. In Well completion equipment: a safety joint, including a barrel unithaving a tubular barrel; a top sub to which said barrel unit is secured,said top sub having an internally threaded socket from which thereextends a depending internally threaded bore; a shoulder about the upperend of said bore; means for releasably securing the barrel unit to amandrel; and a tubing hanger having an externally threaded portionreceivable in the depending bore portion of said top sub and adapted tohave a pipe string secured thereto, said hanger having a part seating onsaid shoulder.

6. In well completion equipment: a safety release joint having a mandreland a barrel unit adapted to be releasably secured to said mandrel, saidmandrel and barrel being telescopically associated and selectivelyreleasable in response to manipulating remote from said safety re leasejoint; a tubing hanger; upwardly facing seat means in said mandrel forsupporting said tubing hanger; and resilient means for detachablysecuring said tubing hanger when seated in said mandrel; said resilientmeans enabling the separation of said tubing hanger and said mandrel inresponse to the exertion of an axial and upwardly directed force on saidhanger.

7. Well completion equipment as described in claim 6 wherein saidresilient means comprises snap ring means disposed between an outerperipheral portion of said tubing hanger and an inner peripheral portionof said mandrel.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,739,802 Rasmussen et al Dec. 17, 1929 2,039,943 Wickersham et a1 May5, 1936 2,049,290 Burns July 28, 1936 2,080,610 Humason May 18, 19372,678,806 Brown May 18, 1954 2,886,289 LeBus May 12, 1959 2,940,730McClintock et a1 June 14, 1960 2,950,929 Nicholson Aug. 30, 1960

1. WELL COMPLETION EQUIPMENT, COMPRISING: A SAFETY RELEASE JOINT HAVINGA MANDREL INCLUDING A PART WITH A PLURALITY OF ANNULARLY SPACED HELICALRECESSES OPEN AT THE UPPER END AND A KEY GROOVE FOR EACH RECESS, SAIDKEY GROOVES EXTENDING LONGITUDINALLY WITH RESPECT TO THE MANDREL ANDOPENING AT THE OPEN ENDS OF SAID RECESSES; AN ANNULAR EXTERNAL SHOULDERON SAID MANDREL FORMING A STOP; MEANS FOR SECURING THE LOWER END OF SAIDMANDREL TO A TUBULAR PIPE, SAID MANDREL HAVING A BORE THERETHROUGHINCLUDING AN ENLARGED BORE PORTION EXTENDING FROM THE TOP AND A SMALLERDIAMETER PORTION THEREBELOW, THERE BEING A LANDING SURFACE FLARING FROMTHE SMALLER DIAMETER BORE PORTION TO THE LARGER DIAMETER BORE, THEREALSO BEING AN ANNULAR INTERNAL GROOVE IN THE LARGE DIAMETER BOREPORTION, SPACED UPWARDLY FROM THE LANDING SURFACE AND HAVING THE UPPERWALL INCLINED UPWARDLY AND INWARDLY; A TUBING HANGER RELEASABLYPOSITIONED IN SAID MANDREL AND HAVING A FRUSTO-CONIAL SEATING SURFACESEATING ON SAID LANDING SURFACE AND HAVING AN EXTERNAL ANNULAR GROOVESPACED UPWARDLY OF SAID SEATING SURFACE, SAID HANGER BEING ADAPTED TOHAVE A PIPE STRING SECURED THERETO; A SPLIT RING DISPOSED IN SAID GROOVEIN THE HANGER AND RECEIVED IN THE INTERNAL ANNULAR GROOVE OF THEMANDREL, SAID RING HAVING AN UPPER OUTER WALL PORTION CONFORMING TO THEINCLINATION OF THE UPPER WALL PORTION OF THE INTERNAL MANDREL GROOVE ANDCOOPERATING THEREWITH